Method of transmitting flight data recorded by a black box of an aircraft by a radioelectric beam whose directivity changes if a critical state of the aircraft is detected

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017141839-A1
Application number	US-201515300224-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2015
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	May 18, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

There is proposed a method of in-flight transmission of data recorded by a black box of an aircraft ( 1 ), the method comprising the emission ( 600 ) by the aircraft ( 1 ) of a radioelectric beam (F 1, F 2 ) transporting said data according to a first directivity (D 1 ) if at least one predetermined parameter does not indicate a critical state of the aircraft ( 1 ), and according to a second directivity different from the first directivity (D 1 ) if the predetermined parameter indicates a critical state of the aircraft ( 1 ).

First claim

1 . A method for transmitting in flight data recorded by a black box of an aircraft, the method comprising emitting by the aircraft a radioelectric beam conveying said data along a first directivity if at least one predetermined parameter does not indicate a critical condition of the aircraft, and along a second directivity different from the first directivity if the predetermined parameter indicates a critical condition of the aircraft.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second directivity is smaller than the first directivity.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein emitting the radioelectric beam along the first directivity is applied in response to detecting a position of another aircraft in flight within radioelectric range, the emitted radioelectric beam then being oriented towards the detected position.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein emitting the radioelectric beam along the second directivity is repeated.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the radioelectric beam along the second directivity is emitted in an omnidirectional way.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the radio beam is emitted according to a first power if the parameter does not indicate a critical condition, and according to a second power greater than the first power if the parameter indicates a critical condition.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determined parameter is emitted in the radioelectric beam.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the emitted radioelectric beam is generated by:
activating a set of antennas of the aircraft, if the parameter does not indicate a critical condition of the aircraft, and selectively activating a subset of the set of antennas, if the parameter indicates a critical condition of the aircraft.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein each antenna is an omnidirectional antenna.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising activating a plurality of antennas of the aircraft, each antenna generating a radioelectric signal conveying a copy of the data recorded by the black box if the parameter indicates a critical condition of the aircraft.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising splitting the data recorded by the black box into several data flows, and activating a plurality of antennas of the aircraft, wherein each antenna generates a radioelectric signal conveying one of the data flows if the parameter indicates a critical condition of the aircraft.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein each radioelectric signal is emitted in a distinct frequency channel.

13 . A transmission system for an aircraft comprising:
a flight recorder of the black box type, an emitter of a radioelectric beam conveying data collected by the flight recorder, the system being characterized in that it further comprises: a diagnostic module configured for determining at least one parameter either indicating or not a critical condition of the aircraft, and a control module configured for adjusting the directivity of the emitter )-according to the determined parameter.

14 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the emitter comprises a plurality of omnidirectional antennas, and the control module is configured for:
activating the plurality of antennas if the parameter does not indicate a critical condition of the aircraft, and selectively activating a sub-set of the plurality of antennas if the parameter indicates a critical condition of the aircraft.

15 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the sub-set consists of a single omnidirectional antenna.

Assignees

• Safran Electronics & Defense

Inventors

• Chiodini Alain
• Delville Denis
• Riviere Philippe

Classifications

• H04B7/18506 Primary

  Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service · CPC title

• G07C5/0858

  wherein the data carrier is removable · CPC title

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title

• G07C5/085

  using electronic data carriers · CPC title

• H04B7/18508

  with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service · CPC title